Borchering vs. Davidson

Nick Piecoro is the latest to examine who should stay at third base between Matt Davidson and Bobby Borchering.

Go here to read it.

Then come back here and leave a comment as to who you think will end up staying at the hot corner. 

(Editor's Note:  The comments are not meant to attack one player or the other, but rather be a rational discussion about two talented players.  I reserve the right to not publish any comment that I feel is offensive or disrespectful)

New Page Design

I'd once again like to thank Andrew Bowen for his excellent work in making my blog design a thing of beauty.  If you are wondering, the pictures are of Bobby Borchering (on the left as you look at it) and Matt Davidson (on the right).

Andrew is one of our group sales representatives, but clearly he has an eye for graphic design.  He also has red hair, like me, so he's definitely a good person to have around the office.  Sadly, Andrew's baseball talents aren't anywhere near his design talents, so this is probably the first and last time his name will ever appear in the same post as Bobby Borchering and Matt Davidson.

Article on Matt Davidson

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic wrote an article on Matt Davidson a couple of days back. It's not a huge feature or anything, but a decent article that will hopefully give the Diamondbacks fans in Phoenix something to look forward to in a few years. You can read it here.

MWL Top 20 Prospects

Baseball America has released the list of top 20 prospects in the Midwest League. It's not a surprise that Mike Trout of Cedar Rapids headlines the list.

Who else made it? Check it out here.

Not surprisingly, there are three Silver Hawks on the list. Somewhat surprisingly, Bobby Borchering isn't one of them.

Matt Davidson checks in at #9
Tyler Skaggs is #10
Chris Owings is #17

I'd have to think that Borchering was just outside of the top 20.

A.J. Pollock Update

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic does as good a job as any MLB beat writer staying up-to-date on the Minor Leaguers in the system. His most recent blog post examines the injury to A.J. Pollock and how his rehab is coming along. There's also a note at the bottom of the post about Matt Davidson's first game in Visalia.

Read it here.

August 18th Roster Move

Good afternoon. We start the day of posts with a roster move.

3B Matt Davidson - Promoted to Visalia.
RHP Derek Eitel - Joins Silver Hawks from Missoula.
OF Chris Jarrett - Joins Silver Hawks from Missoula.

The full article can be read in the headlines section of www.silverhawks.com.

My Take: Ouch! Nothing against the two players coming in, but losing your cleanup hitter and team leader in virtually every offensive category hurts no matter how you slice it. However, that's the way Minor League Baseball works and this team will have to find a way to rally without Davidson's big bat in the lineup.

Eitel and Jarrett both went to college in the state of Indiana, and put up impressive collegiate numbers. The numbers in Missoula weren't overwhelming, but hopefully they'll bring renewed energy to the club.

Eitel is expected to pitch in relief tomorrow after Tyler Skaggs makes his Silver Hawks debut. Jarrett could be in the lineup either today or tomorrow I would imagine.

From the Notes - August 11th

TEAM NOTES:
• With 26 games remaining in the second half, the Silver Hawks are currently 3.5 games out of a playoff spot.
• All 26 games left will be against Eastern Division opponents, with 19 of the 26 against other playoff hopefuls.
• The Hawks have not won a series since taking two of three @ Fort Wayne July 10th-12th. They have lost seven straight games that could have clinched a series victory.
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INDIVIDUAL NOTES:
• David Nick had another hit yesterday, pushing his streak to nine straight games – tying his season high.
• Kevin Munson has thrown 10.1 scoreless innings as a professional over eight appearances, allowing only two hits.
• Matt Davidson continues to lead the Midwest League with 74 RBIs this season.

Baseball America Prospects Chat Weighs In

I noticed this in the latest edition of Baseball America's Prospect Chat:

Kevin (Phoenix): Thoughts on which one of Bochering or Davidson sticks at the hot corner? Body wise, it appears that Davidson is more athletic. Which bat do you prefer?

Ben Badler: They're both going to have to put in a lot of work to stick at the position, and sitting on the bench while their team is in the field half the time really isn't an ideal situation. It sounds like Davidson might have a small edge there, though. Not a flashy defender, but he has the arm for the position, he can make the routine plays and he shows some aptitude for charging the slow roller.

You can read the whole article here.

Featured Silver Hawk - Matt Davidson

This week's Featured Silver Hawk is third baseman Matt Davidson. In the article, Davidson talks about his success pitching when he was younger as well as how much he enjoys participating in home run derbies. The article can be read by clicking this link.

Additionally, if you missed any of the other Featured Silver Hawk articles from this season, you can view all of them by clicking this link.

From the Notes - July 29th

TEAM NOTES:

• With 39 games remaining in the second half, the Silver Hawks are currently 4.5 games out of a playoff spot.

• Yesterday’s win was only the team’s fourth this season when trailing after eight innings.

• The Silver Hawks have played three straight 4-3 games (won two, lost one).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

• Ender Inciarte had his first three hit game, his first homer, and his first three RBI game of the season yesterday.

• Matt Davidson leads the Midwest League with 63 RBIs.

• Yonata Ortega ranks first in the Midwest League with 22 saves – one better than Fort Wayne’s Nick Schumacher.

• David Nick has raised his batting average 23 points in the month of July from .237 to .260 on the season.

From the Notes - July 23rd

HALEY’S CHASE FOR MILESTONE VICTORIES

• Mark Haley entered 2010 with 456 career victories (442 regular season, 14 postseason wins) and 375 wins for the Silver Hawks

• Mark recorded his 400th victory for South Bend on June 3rd vs. Peoria (10-4 W) and needs four wins to reach 500 in his career.

TEAM NOTES:

• With 44 games remaining in the second half, the Silver Hawks are currently three games out of a playoff spot.

• South Bend plays Western Division opponents for 12 straight games (2-6 so far with four games remaining in the stretch).

• South Bend starting pitchers are 21-42 this season, including just 7-22 since June 1st.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

• Matt Helm’s four RBI game last night was his third of the season. Only Matt Davidson has more with four.

• Matt Davidson is tied for the MWL lead with 62 RBIs (tied with Casey Haerther of Cedar Rapids).

• Yonata Ortega ranks tied for first in the Midwest League with 20 saves.

• Keon Broxton leads all of baseball with 15 triples this year. He is four shy of the MWL record of 19 triples in a season.

Baseball America Article on Borchering, Davidson, and Owings

Brian Lester from Baseball America recently talked to Bobby Borchering, Matt Davidson, and Chris Owings along with manager Mark Haley about the trio's first full season in professional baseball. The article can be read by clicking this link, but you need to be a subscriber of Baseball America in order to access it.

From the Notes - Offense Edition

Here are some tidbits from today's media notes, sticking strictly with the offense today:

• Keon Broxton tripled again Wednesday and now has a franchise record 14 on the season (previous record was 12 by Victor Hall in 2001). He leads all of MiLB with the 14 triples.

• Matt Davidson ranks 1st in the league with 61 RBIs and is on an 11 game hitting streak (15 RBIs in the 11 games).

• Bobby Borchering has hit in nine straight games – his longest hitting streak of the season.

• Ramon Castillo has hits in 20 of his first 21 games with South Bend, including four homers and 17 RBIs.

From the Notes - July 11th

Here are a few tidbits from today's media notes:

• With 54 games remaining in the second half, the Silver Hawks are one game out of a playoff spot.

• The South Bend bullpen has allowed just nine earned runs in 38.0 innings over the last ten games (2.13 ERA).

• Matt Davidson ranks 1st in the league with 57 RBIs and is on an eight game hitting streak.

• Bobby Borchering has hit in six straight games and has driven in seven runs during the streak.

• Keon Broxton is tied for the Minor League lead with 11 triples. He is one shy of tying the South Bend franchise record.

• Reliever Brian Budrow has not allowed a run in his last 13.2 innings.

• Ramon Castillo has hits in 17 of his first 18 games with the Silver Hawks. He had a 16-game streak snapped on Friday.

From the Notes - July 5th

• The Silver Hawks are now just 1-14 against the Loons in 2010 and 3-28 against them in the last two seasons.

• The South Bend bullpen has allowed just one earned run in 14.2 innings over the last four games.

• First baseman Ramon Castillo has hits in each of his first 11 games for South Bend, tying Matt Davidson for the longest hitting streak this season.

• Chris Owings has not yet played in the second half due to plantar fasciitis.

• Keon Broxton recorded his 10th triple yesterday, tying for the league lead and he is now just two shy of the franchise record.

• Pitchers Andrew Wolcott and Brad Wilson have been added to the roster over the last two days.

MVP Vote Follow Up

Since I got absolutely ripped by a commenter in an earlier post, I want to clarify something.

There is no question that Matt Davidson was the first half MVP for the Silver Hawks. Chris Owings probably should have been second, although if you are a bigger fan of power numbers, then I have no problem with Bobby Borchering being second (Owings had a much higher batting average, Borchering had more homers and RBIs).

My problem with the vote was that I had never received more than 60 votes for any poll question, and that question got over 500 responses. There was some serious ballot box stuffing going on, which is why I called the vote a "joke".

Anyhow, I just wanted to clear that up so that everyone knows that I think the fans ultimately got it right in that Matt Davidson was voted the first half MVP.

From The Notes - June 27th

• The Silver Hawks struck out 17 times yesterday – a new season high – but still won the game.

• South Bend hit two home runs in a game for the seventh time this season.

• South Bend is just 3 and 27 against the Loons over the last two seasons (2-14 last year, 1-13 this season).

• First baseman Ramon Castillo has one hit in each of his first four games for South Bend.

• Matt Davidson ranks T-4th with 10 homers, T-2nd with 46 RBIs, and T-2nd with 32 extra base hits.

• Keon Broxton struck out five times yesterday, the second time this season he had 5 K’s in a game against the Loons.

• Chris Owings missed his second straight game yesterday with a sore foot.

Back To It...

After 4 days off, I'm ready to get this second half started.

The last poll question was ridiculous with some vote flooding, but according to the "fan vote", Matt Davidson edges out Bobby Borchering for first half MVP. Again, there was nothing official about this poll, and unfortunately it turned into a joke instead of a legitimate "who do you think has been the most valuable player" fan vote.

Anyhow, a new poll is up on the right.

All-Star Game Recap

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera with me to Fort Wayne, so I don't have any pictures of my own to share with you all. Instead, I will provide links to some other photos taken from the game and share my thoughts on the experience in general.

I did take one picture with my phone. This was the view from our seats just to the third base side of home plate. The picture is of Matt Davidson batting in the first inning against West starter Trey McNutt.

Here are some photo galleries online. This one is from the Midwest League and focuses mostly on the Day One festivities, such as the Home Run Derby and Skills Challenge. Davidson hit eight homers in the first round before being eliminated in the second round of the Derby. Chris Owings participated in the Infield Throwing competition and Tyson Van Winkle finished in a three-way tie for first in the Catcher's Throwing competition.

This gallery is from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and has action shots from the game, including one of Chris, while the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel has more game shots and photos from the pre-game festivities. Finally, here are the photos that Owen took of Parkview Field last season.

Obviously the game was the main highlight, but the between-inning entertainment was also very fun. There was a dancing bat boy, Myron Noodleman, and the Zooperstars (my personal favorite). Each act brought many laughs throughout the crowd and Chris Owings even busted a move on the field.

All in all, the All-Star game was a great experience. Sorry again for the lack of original photos, but I hope these links are enough to help you get a picture of what it was like.

South Bend Notes from the All-Star Game

Here's more information on why Charles Brewer didn't start, Matt Davidson's home run derby appearance, and other tidbits from the All-Star game, courtest of Curt Rallo at the South Bend Tribuine.